Great Queen Street, April 2016

At the April 2016 meeting of The Great Priory of Knights Templar held in The Grand Temple at Great Queen Street, London several members of the Masonic Order of Athelstan received Knight Templar appointments. David Railson, PGM Northumbria was promoted and first Great rank conferred upon Bob Tuthill KSM and Ray Hudson, DepPGM Kent.

Some of our members took the opportunity to visit the UGLE Library and Museum of Freemasonry and after browsing a temporary exhibition celebrating the Ter-Centenary in 2017 were delighted to see a display case dedicated to the Masonic Order of Athelstan. It contains aprons of a Court Master Mason, a Provincial officer, a Grand Officer and the original apron of the Most Worshipful Grand Master, who now wears a new apron presented to him as part of our 10th anniversary celebration weekend in 2015.

An introduction to the display contains the following words “The additional orders of freemasonry mostly date from the 1700s and 1800s but Freemasonry in England continues to develop to meet the needs of its members and new orders are still being created. These all require members to be freemasons in good standing under the United Grand Lodge of England. The Masonic Order of Athelstan …. uses non Biblical imagery and is a new order in its structure and ritual."

All our members are encouraged to visit the museum and view our dedicated display next time they are in London.